It takes courage to live a full life but as we all know we only have one chance unless you believe in reincarnation. Here are some tips on how to live a full life in an Infographic.
Caution is wise but excessive caution limits one’s life. An over-cautious approach to life can seriously undermine the desired objective: maximise happiness.
If we keep that goal in mind it helps to make life decisions. Sometimes we can’t be sure that a decision we make will make us happier. Sometimes all we can do is try it out and see; explore the possibilities. Then we know. Caution can block this.
Cats and companion animals
What about cats?! And dogs? And other companion animals? They are part of the process of maximising happiness. My God, they bring us so much happiness in the mundane day-to-day life of most of us. We should find happiness in the mundane. The ordinary. See link below.
Releasing oneself from too much caution is wise but perhaps risk tempered with caution is the best compromise.
The world can be scary perhaps more so today with the world becoming discombobulated. Stressed with rogue states like Russia. It can create anxiety particularly in younger people.
It seems that in the UK the youngsters are more prone to anxiety than the older brigade with “20,000 a month off work with poor mental health” – Times headline.
In the UK more than 20k people a month are deemed incapable of working for mental health reasons. Shocking. Strange. Are these people lazy or genuinely ill?
On welfare payments they certainly are not maximising their chances of being happy along the lines of the five principles set out in the infographic on this page.
RELATED: Find happiness in the day-to-day mundane, friends and family and your cat or dog
Afterthought
I believe that you have to have the basic tools to live a full life. These tools give you the opportunity to have choices: education at first followed by a decent income. A good education also opens eyes and should enlighten one; the beginning of understanding what you have to do to be happy and have the self-confidence to go for it.
Second afterthought – loneliness
On the matter of loneliness, James Marriott, writing an opinion piece in The Times newspaper of March 21, 2024, argues that “self-obsession is the root of modern loneliness” and that “Our culture’s idea that happiness can be found only within ourselves runs counter to history”.
He argues that people shouldn’t look internally to find happiness but take actions outwardly to network with people. He adds that, “most of us, I think, would be better off not thinking about ourselves nearly so much.”
He doesn’t people to navel gaze but to be active and think outwardly; to become less isolated. This actually chimes very strongly with a lot of what we read about acquiring general happiness. Networking, having friends, having family, meeting people and interacting with people are very good ways of becoming happier as is connecting with nature.
